Cigarette forming device



Aug. 2, 1938. H LYTLE 2,125,351

CIGARETTE FORMING DEVICE Filed March 13, 1936 INVENTOR HR.Ly5Ze ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 2, 1938 '"wzNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application March 13,

3 Claims.

"This invention relates to devices for making cigarettes'for individual use with ordinary cigarette papers. My principal object is to provide as a unit a container for a certain amount of loose tobacco and a means incorporated with the container for. holding the papers and filling the same with the tobacco as they are required for use.

The entire device is of a size which may be conveniently carried in a man's pocket, and it functions without having to open the container during a cigarette making operation so that waste from spilling is eliminated and the supply of tobacco is not exposed to the drying eifects of the atmosphere.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the device in inverted position for forming a cigarette wrapper.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the device.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of my improved device with the plunger advanced in the filling tube.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of the device.

' Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing, and particularly at present to Figures 1 to 3, the device comprises a container l of rigid material, preferably thin metal, and of a size to receive the contents of a standard retail package of cigarette tobacco. The container is formed with a lid 2 along the top hinged along one side to the container and having a suitable holding catch 3 on the opposite side.

The bottom of the container is formed with a well 4, extending a relatively short distance from one end of the container toward the other. Projecting to the opposite end of the container from the adjacent end of the well is an open ended tube 5, extending parallel to the overhanging fiat bottom of the adjacent portion of the container; the bottom of the tube being substantially alined with the bottom of the well.

The tube is about the same diameter as a cigarette, and is somewhat shorter than an ordinary cigarette paper P with which this device is intended to be used. Secured at one end on the 1936, Serial N0. 68,601

bottom of the container intermediate the ends of the tube and extending transversely thereof is a leaf spring 6 yieldably bearing against the upper adjacent periphery of the tube. This spring serves to initially hold a cigarette paper in place on the tube, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Slidably mounted in a tapering boss I inside the end wall of the container or well opposite the tube in axial alinement therewith is a rod 8 on the inner end of which is fixed a plunger 9, adapted to project into the tube from the inner end of the same. The movement of the plunger into the tube is limited by a finger engaging knob l0 formed on the rod outwardly of the container. The tapered form of the boss prevents packing of the tobacco behind the plunger when the latter is retracted to the boss.

In operation, a cigarette paper P is first placed about the tube as indicated, and is then rolled to shape about the tube as a mandrel, being then adhered along its outer edge to the wrapping underneath, in the usual manner. The end of the cigarette wrapper thus formed projects beyond the end of the tube, and is then bent over to form a closure for said end as indicated at C. When performing these operations, the container is inverted to place the tube uppermost as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The container is then restored to its normal position so that the well is full of tobacco, and the plunger is retracted from the tube by pulling on knob ll].

One hand is used to support the container, while the other hand is employed in rapidly reciprocating the plunger rod. This causes the loose tobacco in the well to be intermittently pushed into the tube and thence into the wrapper to fill the same, the closed outer end of the wrapper aiding in imparting the necessary compression to the tobacco so that a substantially tight filling of the wrapper will be had, and causing the wrapper to be gradually slid off the tube as it becomes filled.

Formed in thelid 2 toward one end is a longitudinal receptacle II in which a stem I2 is removably mounted, said stem having a moistener on one end and being surrounded when in the receptacle by water saturated cotton or the like as indicated at l3. This is to be used for moistening the gummed flap of the cigarette paper instead of using the tongue.

Instead of the moistener, I may mount a cigarette lighting element of standard form in the receptacle II to cooperate with a flint bar l4 etc. mounted on the top of the lid adjacent the element.

in the type of device shown in Figure 4, the main body l5 of the container is of leather or other flexible material, closed along the top by a slide fastener 16 of common form. This body is secured to and communicates with a metal bottom and well portion I! which contains the paper engaging tube 5a and the interior parts cooperating therewith the same as in the first described type. The body I5 preferably has a pocket l8 on the outside to hold a pad of cigarette papers.

The container in this form of the device being flexible, is very convenient for carrying in the pocket, since it can flex and give, and thus con-. form to the contour of the pocket.

From the foregoing deseription it will be read-.

ily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein. 1 7

While this specification sets forth indetail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, defined by the appended claims.

Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cigarette making device, a tobacco containing body, tobacco extruding means including a tube of a length substantially that of a cigarette projecting fromthe body parallel to and spaced from one wall thereof, the tube being otherwise unobstructed and readily accessible and adapted to serve as a mandrel for the wrapping of a cigarette paper thereabout in tubular form, and a leaf spring fixed at one end on said wall and extending at right angles to the axis of the tube to tangential contact withsaiditube intermediate its ends and at a point in'the circumference thereof nearest the Wall.

2. A device as in claim 1 in which the free end portion of the spring extends beyond said point of contact sufficient distance to enable said portion to be engaged by a finger of the operator and the spring depressed from the tube. 

